sonicfancharafandomcom-20200215-history
Creative options for making Sonic OCS
Disclaimer: You don't have to follow my advice word for word, this is all my opinion and if you don't like it, fine with you. So you might be thinking right now, " This is just another guide for making Sonic ocs" but I'm gonna give you something new. There are infinite possibilities for an OC, and nothing is strictly prohibited. Anything can work if done on purpose and well executed. Black-and-Red Colour Schemes, sure just look at Mighty; parents died, that could certainly work; has wings even though they are a land animal, just give a reason and you're set. There are some don'ts, like making them able to destroy planets with their pinkies or having everyone fall in love with them, but those are perfectly reasonable. So this is not a list of dos and don'ts, just something to open your mind and expand your creativity. Concepts This isn't really necessary, but might speed up the process or give you a stream of new ideas. Get inspired; come up with a simple concept for your character. It can be anything, species, colour, role, powers, it just needs to define your character. It should look something like those tiny descriptions below characters in the Archie comics, something like 'Desert Thief' or 'Half-Robotocized Husky'. Personality You can start a lot of ways, have this character based off you or your friends and family, or make this character's personality fit the role you have chosen. No character's personality can be summed up in a few words, but don't stretch it to a hundred paragraphs either. Sonic personalities are like human personalities, just a little exaggerated and toony. Like, how many people do you know with Ray's personality, or Sonic's even. So do some research, watch some cutscenes, doing this stuff is really fun in my opinion and it helps you understand the range of characteristics before it gets too realistic. Remember, Sonic characters aren't regular humans, they're anthropomorphic animals with superpowers. If you're going to base this character off of yourself, take a deeper look at yourself first. Trying to rewrite Windris's personality made me realized I was an Ambivert, so that was rather helpful. If not, start with a few questions: What emotion do they feel the most, do they like to be around others, what do they do in their free time, and stuff like that. If you're still having trouble, ask your self this: how would they act in situation. Ask your self that a few times until you have something solid. If you're making more than one character, make sure you don't reuse personalities too much. It's fun to see ocs with different disposition interact with one another; if you make all your characters a certain nature, it'll seem more like they're all drones controlled by a hive mind. Here's a test: jot down 3-5 characteristics of your OCs, line them all up, remove the names, and try to guess which one is which. If you can't tell them apart, you need to look at your characters again and change them. Species Now with the whole species thing, make it whatever you want to. Don't be pressured into changing your character's species just to be original; if it has a good design, species shouldn't matter too much. I've noticed that there are certain vibes with each species, so choosing the right one can actually benefit you. Hedgehogs, Tenrecs, Porcupines: Slick, Cool and ready for action Echidnas: Feisty, Stubborn or Kind Cats: Very versatile but portrayed as less bouncy Foxes: Sweet, Passionate, Shy or Fiery Wolves: Cold, Lonely or Determined Dogs: Energetic, Cute or Awkward Bats: Adventurous or Dark and Lustful Bears: Soft-Spoken, Gentle Aquatic Animals: Mystical, Benevolent Lynxes: FLOOF, and take that as you will And if you want more, comment below. When choosing a species, make sure to incorporate at least two noticeable aspects of the species into your character, it can lead to interesting power ideas too. You can add some hiccups in too, like a hedgehog having a long tail, but don't add too many. It makes me ticked off when I see a fennec fox with normal sized or even small ears, so don't call a character a certain species just because it sounds cool, make them look the part. And of course, if you want to, definitely explore some uncommon species, like, has anyone tried to make an axolotl OC. Hybrids. I kinda see the reason for hybrids, you want to best of two species in your character. I'm not specifically against it, but make sure you know why you are doing it first. Don't make a hybrid just because you want to look more original, that never works. Design A design is a window to the character's personality. Think about how your character would do their hair, or what they would wear. It doesn't have to be final, just a vague idea. Try to pick colours that match the character's personality, like look up Colour Personality Chart and mess around a bit. Taking colours from the species can't go wrong either. You can take inspiration from canon characters, but inspiration means taking 2-3 elements, like hair pattern or base colour scheme (you can add varying shades) but don't take any more than that. If you are still really stuck, use an OC creator like Sonic Forces or others on the internet to explore the options before finding something you like. Clothes. You can go for two types of clothes: Usual fashion, just the clothes you'd see at a shop, and fictitious clothes, or generally something you wouldn't see a normal dude wearing, like military bodysuits or whatever fantasy clothes you can think of. You should try to design them with the character's personal preference in mind, and I'm sure you've heard this before, but try to make it age appropriate. If you're still stuck, try making like a battle suit that amplifies their strengths and suppresses their weaknesses, you'll have a fun time I'm sure. With gloves, make them simple and work well with their powers. Finally, the shoes, I suggest finding a motif on your character or elsewhere and stick it on their shoes. Name Go word-hunting! Find something cool, and if it sounds stupid, it won't in a few weeks. Names like Crystal and Luna are a bit overused, not saying you can't use them, I've just seen maybe 20 ocs with those names. Don't be afraid to make up a name, or fuse two words together. I know a lot of people saying you shouldn't make up names, but I don't see any reason why not as long as they sound good. Powers There are three types of powers Unnatural/Enhancement Powers. Things like Sonic's super speed, or Silver's telekinesis. These powers are the single power that is used for combat, daily life and other things, sorta like emitter quirks from MHA. These powers aren't completely necessary, but most characters have them, so yeah. Put 1-2 on your character and no more. One way to make these powers more interesting is to study some physics and give that power strengths and weaknesses accordingly; there's a superpower wiki for that. You can make a seemingly normal power something special just by thinking why and how this character uses his or her power. Here's an example: Radiation the Leopard has the ability to control poison. You can make it better by putting like this: Radiation has poison flowing through his skin, and he releases it like sweat, after which he can send it in any direction. That sounds much more complete and believable. Physical Powers. This is where things get interesting. These are basically physical attributes that help your character in some way, like tails, claws or wings. They are most comparable to MHA mutant type quirks. Depending on the species, you can give your OC unique attributes, like a porcupine that can detach its quills or a bat that can make supersonic screeches. It's not limited to those either, having enhanced senses like smell or hearing also counts. And thus comes more research, that being animal research. So look up your OC species and you'll probably find something pretty amazing. I suggest adding 3-5, but it can exceed by a little bit. Miscellaneous Powers. These are the rest of them, they're more like skills than anything. This category involves stuff like being able to play the violin or speak Japanese, not particularly useful in combat but nice to impress people. A canon example is Tails tinkering ability. You can have 10 at most. Backstory Now if your planning to put canon in your backstory DO YOUR RESEARCH, and a lot of it too. Make sure there aren't any plot holes and don't make the canon act out of character. The story should still flow and if you want the OC to have its own adventure, make your own story for it. If not, well try to put something related to Sonic in there, like locations or history. Sonic fan characters should relate to the Sonic Universe. Also if you want to make your stories really dark, stick them in with either your own universe or Archie's; they tend to go more serious. The game universe should be at most to the extent of Shadow the Hedgehog maturity, Sonic games are rated G for a reason ya know. Backstories are a way to explain your character's weird features, so use them wisely. It's a good thing to note that a character's past influences their personality and view of certain things. It's also important that you put events in the story with purpose, even if that purpose is discovered later. You don't have to make the whole story at once, jot down some notes then expand once you feel confident. Relationships How many friends your character has depends on how talkative or friendly they are. Lonely or shy characters aren't likely to know a lot of people, much less know them well. A good way to go is having many acquaintances, but a few close friends. Make sure that she/he isn't besties with everyone, that's a bit unreal. Shipping. Some people say you shouldn't ship canon but let's face it, it's inevitable. But do it properly. Sonic is a freeloader, he doesn't want to be tied down, and will probably friendzone people instead of falling for them. Shadow might commend someone for their abilities, but it's hard to hit his sensitive zone. Silver is heartfelt and prone to caring for someone deeply, though I think he's too naive to know about the complicated stuff. Think about a canon character and what impresses them, then you can proceed. And there is, of course, one-way romances, that's a bit easier to handle. Notes There are some people so afraid of making a mary sue that they make their character bland and tasteless like lentil soup. I'm not stopping you from doing that, but your OC won't get noticed like that. The cure for this is not to make them powerless, it's to make them uniquely powerful. Give them some spice if you may. To sum it up, think outside the box a little, don't stick to the norm if you don't want to. As you get better at drawing you will discover more things to make an interesting character. Most importantly, enjoy yourself. Happy OC making!!! Category:Guides/Advice